During last night’s presidential debate (for lack of a better term), Sen. John McCain fumbled and bumbled while trying to promote the wisdom of Theodore Roosevelt, and ended up saying, “Talk softly and carry a big stick.” Teddy Roosevelt first used the term during a speech in Chicago, I think, and quoted an old proverb that says, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” Us rough and tough Americans have morphed that into, “Walk tall and carry a big stick!”, as in Buford T. Pusser.
A man in British Columbia, Canada went for a walk in the woods with his two black labs and was attacked by a bear in the company of two cubs. You can read all the details at Canada.com but in short, he ended up finding a stick at the scene after being attacked twice and he beat the bear to death.
Here’s an interesting bit of information that appeared at the end of the article. Officials went to the scene where the guy clubbed the bear. They ended up shooting the two bear cubs and according to the article, the conservation officers said the bear acted “unnaturally, overly aggressive”. They also said this:
The mama bear’s two cubs had to be put down in case the aggression had been passed down in their genes.
Really? Any bear experts want to weigh in on this? Is it unnatural behavior for a mother bear with two cubs to act to protect her young? I’m guessing the bear was surprised, not just by the man but his two dogs as well.
Conservation officials should do what their policies dictate they should do in cases such as this but I question some of their reasoning.
Tom Remington
